Busting out!!!!

We've been given our discharge papers and we are walking outta the hospital as I write this!!! The boys spent the night in a hotel here in the city with my sis so we are heading over there to surprise them!!! Thanks for the prayers. They are the only thing that have gotten us to where we are!!!!

Hospital day # 4

Every day gets us closer to home. This morning around 3ish, the nurses came in to do vitals and I woke up floating next to Ava. She had overflowed her diaper and flooded the bed and when doing so, most likely saturated her dressing on her lower back. The doc came in to change her dressing and said he wanted to observe her to make sure it was urine and not spinal fluid leaking from her incision. He said that if it was spinal fluid, it would buy us another couple of days in the hospital. Needless to say, Chris and I began changing diapers every 30 minutes to make sure that dressing stayed dry, and wouldn't you know it that as soon as we had her diaper off during a change, she starts peeing everywhere and it flows down to the dressing, UGH! We are still waiting for the doc to come back and reevaluate her.

We had a nice surprise this morning when Aunt Jackie and cousin Taylor stopped by for a visit. The nurses suggested we take a walk, so we went to the Olsen Family Garden on the 8th floor of the hospital. It was gorgeous!!!! And, it was a gorgeous day, high 70's in August!!! Soon after they left, Ma Ma, Pa Pa and big brothers arrived.

After her bath, Ava's nurse stopped her IV fluids completely, one less tube!! While my mom watched Ava, Chris, the boys and I actually walked down the street and enjoyed a dinner from St. Louis Bread Company. What a nice break it was. We are praying that we will be finally released tomorrow. She seems to be doing so well and is only using Tylenol for pain control (She's my hero) and I really think we should be good to go! I will update tomorrow with hopefully wonderful news!!

Loving our new room

Daddy cracks me up

Snuggles for Aunt Jackie

Visiting with my cuz, Tay!

Getting ready for our walk

Checking out the cute guys playing football in

the park

Chillaxin' in the Olsen Garden

Ava trying to help big brother
Morgan on the computer

Uncle Donnie's first visit to the hospital

Beautiful sunset in the garden

f

o

Hospital day #3

We've had a big day today but I guess I need to backtrack a little. Last night we got a much needed visit from Chris and the boys. Mom and I ran up to the Ronald McDonald family room, which was absolutely beautiful, and took nice, long .hot showers. We came back down, ordered Ava some room service (whenever the pt is hungry, you just call down your order) and had a wonderful time visiting. Everyone got teary eyed when it was time for our good-byes. I cannot wait till we are back home and together. After they left, I crashed! It felt good to finally get some sleep. Around 3am, Ava's temp spiked to over 103 so another dose of Tylenol followed. The Tylenol worked but we still had to get a UA, blood cultures, and a CBC. The Dr. came in this morning and said that she could slowly start increasing her activity and start by laying in my arms, WOO HOO!!! He also discontinued her Fentanyl, which helped significantly with her grumpiness. The nurse asked if she would be more comfortable if we put her in a regular bed so I could snuggle with her, "uh....Ya she would!" She loves the big bed. Around noon, I was able to slowly scoop up our angle and sit with her in the chair and it was pure heaven. She never fussed one bit about the pain, such a brave girl. We learned also that she does have a urinary tract infection so they started her on another antibiotic. We can't have the IV taken out yet since she's still not taking fluids in real great and because of her high temp last night, but the catheter did come out. The nurse also found quite a bit more drainage on her dressing this afternoon so the doc came in to assess it and change the bandages. He said if she had more drainage, then she would have to lay flat again, so start praying for no more drainage!!! Chris came up to spend the night here so my mom could take a break. My sis Jen also surprised us with a visit from her family. Right before bedtime tonight, our nurse came in and said a private room had become available and we were moved immediately. Oh it's so nice! We are able to relax so much easier now! Lots of big steps today. Please pray that we continue to move forward tomorrow!!! Good night from one tired mommy!

Daddy's girl

Big brother time

My new bed

Not even a whimper when I picked her up

Finally in mama's arms

I could get used to this personal TV thingy!

Feeling mighty happy after a little codeine

Ma Ma is taking great care of me!

First bath

Squeaky clean

First time sitting up

Hospital day #2

Trying to smile

Checking mommy's heartrate

Time to roll, not fun

Being very good laying with her bed flat

Fairly uneventful night for us here. Ava did run a bit of a temp during the night but that is to be expected after surgery. I decided to pay homage to Ava's heritage and do my best impersonation of a chinese acrobat while trying to find a comfortable sleeping position in the rolling chair at her bedside. After a few chuckles, I'm sure, from our nurse, she finally took pity on me by bending the rules and bringing me a reclining chair. I managed to catch a few winks. Around 10:30 we were moved up to the 12th floor. Hopefully it'll be a little quieter down here so we will be able to rest. Ava is still being sedated with Fentanyl and Valium so she minimizes her movement. Hopefully we will only have to be in here for 4 more days if all goes well. I think that's all for now. Will give more info when I can.

Some pics from Surgery Day 1

The view of Forest Park from our room in PICU

Our sleeping angel's finally in recovery. The

nurses had to sedate her because she was

a little firecracker!

Getting ready to leave recovery

On our way to the PICU



Awake but groggy. Her left eye was

still a little puffy from lying facedown for

her surgery






Papa Jack gettin' some Ava time

Out like a light for Aunt Jen

Resting well after a long day

So far, So good

Ava is snoozing in her room and will occasionally open up her very sleepy eyes to make sure one of us is still there with her. She was able to give us a very small smile and an awesomely sweet kiss. One huge praise, she is able to move her feet and toes just fine!!!!!! The Dr. is super pleased with her progress and said we should move out of ICU in the morning. The ICU, sadly, is packed full of precious angels. We are once again counting our blessings. I do not make a very good hospital mom and cannot imagine (nor do I want to) what many of theses families are enduring. We will be home in a few days and so many of these kiddos aren't that fortunate. God Bless them all! I will post some pics soon.

SHE'S DONE!!

The doc just came out and talked with us and said surgery went very smoothly. He was able to finish sooner than they thought. We are waiting for them to call us back to the recovery room. YAYYYY!!!!!!